Hello!

My name is Ally Bean and this is my personal blog answering the question: "What up, Buttercup?" I'm here a few times a week-- unless, of course, I'm not. And yes, I wear eyeglasses. Spectacles, if you will.

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“I am not always good and noble. I am the hero of this story, but I have my off moments.”

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Answering Your Questions, I Am [Part 2 of 2]

• From Lori P who just happens to be my SIL… If you had to do it all again, specifically targeting the choices you made for yourself, would you change anything?

I think the one thing that I’d change is I would have stood my ground about taking a year off between high school and college. For various reasons, I was emotionally exhausted and mentally unclear about my future when I graduated from high school. I knew that I needed a break from academics so that I could figure out what to do next, but my mother wouldn’t hear of it. She forced me to go on to college straightaway.

Had I followed my own instincts, I would have been more mature, rested and focused when I arrived on campus as a freshman. I suspect that I would have gone to a larger university that had a more diverse student population and offered a wider variety of majors– one of which would have prepared me for a career in something or other.

• From Kristen Plumer at Kristen Loves Design… What would you describe as your decorating style? Does it match who you really are? And a related question, if you could decorate however you wanted (money being no object), what would you do?

Our decorating style is relaxed traditional with family antiques, hints of mid-century modern & splashes of spirited color. It’s eclectic, but to keep it from looking too jumbled the walls are in shades of warm neutrals like khaki gold, creamy white or warm gray– with white trim everywhere. The style matches who we are to a tee– cheerfully mixed-up with the ability to pull it together when need be.

If money were no object and I could find the right interior designer, I’d like to have a home that has more of what I’d call a California relaxed vibe to it. Mostly neutrals inside the house because the outdoors is colorful. Open, sliding doorways from inside living areas to the outside. Black trim around the windows. Lots of amazing original artwork. And perhaps some stucco, arches, Mexican tiles, too.

• From Zazzy at Zazamataz… What are your favorite foods – to make? to eat? What’s comfort for you? What can you absolutely not stand?

My favorite foods to make are fruit-based deserts like strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream or bread pudding with raisins or applesauce spice cake with caramel icing. I also like to make stews and soups in the winter. All that chopping and blending of ingredients makes me happy.

My favorite foods to eat are fresh fruits and vegetables. Plus grilled fish + chicken. I like sourdough bread, and pasta or rice done very simply with a bit of olive oil/butter, onions, herbs. Also, I am a nut for unsalted nuts. I really like eating healthy, but do not always have the time & energy to do so. Which is a bummer, but a reality at this point in my life.

As for comfort food, I occasionally eat a bakery white [or yellow] cake cupcake with vanilla icing– for medicinal purposes, mind you. And the one food that I cannot stand is green or yellow or red peppers. Yuck. Won’t eat them at all.

Candice, I’m not sure but I think that they might know it was you. I have a list of who subscribes to this blog and how they subscribe to it. The front page of this list is merely an ever changing number, but the details on the second page tell me exactly who is a follower & his/her email address.

Now, when I see that I have fewer followers I never double-check to see who unsubscribed to this blog because I have a people come/people go philosophy about blogging. But if I wanted to I could keep track of everyone on a daily [hourly] basis.

So, if the person who you want to unfollow doesn’t keep track like I do, then he/she will probably not realize that you’ve unsubscribed for a while… if at all. However, if this person is one to watch his/he stats, then he/she will know immediately.

Thanks. Wish I’d been wiser earlier on, but I didn’t trust myself back then. I don’t think any of us girls were encouraged to do that. Different times, different realities. Which is why now I’m very clear about what I like and why I do what I do.

Thank you Ally, it has been fun to learn more about you in these two posts.

I wish I had taken a year off between high school and university, too. I didn’t know I needed it at the time since I thought I knew everything back then, but it would really have helped me to grow up a little before going off to school.

Homemade whipped cream is not an everyday food but it sure is something that makes summer fruits or holiday desserts extra special. Everyone should go for the real thing now and then.

A follow up! Can you not stand green peppers in dishes or do you just not like them when they’re featured prominently in a dish – like stuffed peppers? My can’t-stand food is liver. I could force my way through other things I don’t like, like lima beans, but I couldn’t stay in the same room with liver.

The interesting thing about the year off was that I knew that I needed it, but I was too much of a good girl to press the point. I was way too interested in approval back then & my mother knew that. So I did what was expected of me.

After my gallbladder was removed, I lost the ability to digest peppers. So like them or not, I don’t eat them any more. The indigestion that they cause me isn’t worth it.

Amen on the peppers, sister. Hate them with a passion. I think a break can help many students, but hurts others. Your mom might have feared that you would get a job, and an independent life and never go to college. It’s happened to many people I know. (actually most of my friends) On the other hand, our older daughter took a two year break from her BA to go back for her MA. It was good for her to get out in the workforce because it really made her value school. 😉

Margaret, I’m sure that my mother thought something along those lines. Like I said above, it was a different time/place & good girls did what they were told to do. So off to a small liberal arts Christian college I went.